John Summers was looking out the window at Banfield Pet Hospital in Northeast Portland on Thursday morning when he noticed smoke coming from the roof of a home across the street.

The hospital's maintenance manager thought it might be coming from the chimney. But he wasn't sure, so he told a colleague and they moved toward the window to get a closer look. At just that moment, about 6:50 a.m., another colleague, John Grimes, arrived at work on the second floor of the pet hospital and asked what they were looking at.

They realized the house was on fire.

What happened next saved the life of a frail 89-year-old woman who lives on her own in the two-story house that her family grew up in.

While one colleague, Alan Norris, called 9-1-1, Grimes raced out of the pet hospital to the house with another colleague, Dave Eckerson.

"When we saw the smoke, we knew something wasn't right," said Grimes, who works on the construction crew at the hospital. "So, we started knocking on the door."

Their knocking turned to pounding, but no one answered. Grimes raced around the house, looking for an entryway, but all the doors were locked.

As they beat on windows, Grimes thought about what to do.

"It was a decision between breaking in or continuing to pound on the window to try to get a hold of somebody," he said.

Just then Frances Heaton, who will turn 90 in October, peered out her bedroom window above the garage.

"We screamed at her that her roof was on fire," Grimes said. "We kept screaming, 'Come downstairs, come downstairs.' She seemed like she was having a hard time understanding."

But Heaton came down to the front door and opened it, telling them there was no one else inside and that she had trouble walking.

Grimes swept her up in his arms and carried her outside to safety while Eckerson went in the house to double-check for people or pets.

Right about then, at 7:01 a.m., Portland firefighters arrived on the scene and got to work putting the fire out.

Heaton cried as she watched, Grimes said, and asked for a blanket. He called one of her brothers, Gordon Malafouris, while medics treated her and took her to a hospital for evaluation.

Malafouris said that his sister, the eldest of four children, had actually called one of their other brothers about 6:30 a.m., asking him to bring her some medication for her throat.

"She didn't even realize there was a fire going on in another part of the house," Malafouris said. "It's a good thing that the neighbors who came by saw what was happening and got her out of the house."

He said the fire broke out in the back of the house in an area that's difficult to access. Portland firefighters, who put the fire out in about 45 minutes, said the cause was electrical.

Heaton was released and back at the house before noon, examining the damage with her brothers. Though frail, Malafouris said she'll be fine. But the siblings were shaken by the fire.

Heaton and her three brothers grew up in the home, and then in the 1960s, Malafouris remodeled it. His sister has been living in the house on her own.

"We've never experienced anything like this," Malafouris said.

The house, with smoke damage and a ruined kitchen, needs extensive repairs. Fortunately, Malafouris has other houses where his sister, the eldest sibling, can live.

"She'll be OK," he said.

Grimes was happy to see that for himself.

"I was able to give her a big hug and talk to her for a few minutes," he said. "It was really cool. Everyone keeps saying I'm a hero, but I'm not a hero. I was just in the right place at the right time. I guess I was her guardian angel for the day."